The global world order is changing. No amount of trying to restore a former order will succeed. In every challenge that changes order there is the opportunity to sow into the future. Europe could be left behind -and by that I am not referring particularly to trade and commerce but spiritually. If Europe can learn how to get on board then there is a major contribution to be made.
I have (and still do) hold to a two-fold movement in the NT. Jesus dies in Jerusalem stating that no prophet can die outside of that city, for religious restrictions have to be broken in order for the promises to Abraham to be released by the Spirit. Paul then travelled throughout the then known world (almost) with the implications for society. We have reduced the effect of the cross to a possible internal transaction (you can have your personal sins forgiven), reducing the overcoming of all powers in order that there might be a new creation… Paul’s message was that the Caesar reign was over (for Caesar’s imperial rule was the earthly image of the demonic realm that seeks to subjugate all humanity in that ‘kingdom’. Jesus, not Caesar, was ‘king of kings and lord of lords’ (titles accorded to Caesar) and a new era was present – an era of liberation of humanity.
A twofold movement – from Jerusalem to Rome – Jew first then Greek / Gentile:
καὶ κηρυχθήσεται τοῦτο τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ εἰς μαρτύριον πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, καὶ τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος (Matt 24:14… Greek text not to be clever but a few interesting points within it).
And this gospel of the kingdom (same word for kingdom of God and also the Empire (of Rome)) shall be proclaimed (a public message) in the whole civilised world (oikoumene – the word used to draw boundaries of what was in and out in the sense of Roman Empire) for a witness to the non-Jewish peoples (ta ethne – used to distinguish from ‘the people’ of God, in other words Gentiles) and then the end (telos not eschaton) will come.
The second element that captivated Paul with his ‘I want to get to Spain’ – the Western end of the Roman oikoumene. OK… the then known world with an all-but one world government… except for the Empires that co-existed at that time (and before and after)…
Europe – a pivotal time for something that recaptures the Pauline proclamation with a reach now beyond that world he operated in. The Far East waits. What will that look like… 2040 we will be able to look back and see how we responded. There is more at stake than global trade wars and what currency is the reserve currency. And then… yes the Middle East. The place where the prince of peace died in order that there might no longer be the divisions of Jew and Gentile (Arab – close cousins!, caucasian, Asian/ East Asian); those who control the finances and those who serve to maintain the economic inequalities; the patriarchal system… War about boundaries can hide the desire to hold things in a proper way…